{"id":545,"date":"2019-04-29T08:58:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T13:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/2019springhhk200\/?p=545"},"modified":"2019-04-29T08:58:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T13:58:07","slug":"todays-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.owu.edu\/2019springhhk200\/2019\/04\/29\/todays-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Today’s Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

The story line of the movie <\/span>Today\u2019s Special<\/span><\/i>, is about Simir, a Indian man and chef learning how to cook Indian food. Simir starts off the movie by knowing nothing of cooking Indian food and it appears as though he knows little of the culture. Simir and Akbar are the two main characters. Akbar being the one who will teach Simir about how to cook and experience the Indian culture. The whole movie is based around Simir and is journey about learning to cook Indian food at his father’s restaurant, making the food the driving force in the movie. <\/span><\/p>\n

Since Simir is an Indian chef, who does not know how to cook Indian food, a lot of this movie his Simir learning his ethnic identity. Simir was not hired on as head chef of a restaurant because he lacked the ability to make something with a wow factor. \u00a0This is where Akbar comes into play, there is one scene with him that really exemplifies how he creates an identity with his food. His father is not taking care of the restaurant and he takes the opportunity to change it up. And he goes onto place pictures of his brother and to use decorations of elephants(like seen in Akbar’s taxi) And to top it off, he has several of his Indian friends play traditional Indian music live in the restaurant. During his time with Akbar, he builds up this Indian identity that comes from him. <\/span><\/p>\n

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(Kaplan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0Ethnic identity is also when Akbar is cooking at the restaurant. Simir comes out to two men crying while eating the food. One is Pakistani and the other is white, When Simir asks what\u2019s wrong, the Pakistani man replies that it reminds him of his mother, the white guy says \u201cit\u2019s just so spicy\u201d. Since Simir\u2019s father own the restaurant, and Simir has many memories of his family, it shows how Simir can connect with people of the same ethnic group, ad it shows how they have distanced themselves from the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another theme that comes into play is culinary capital, being in that he can appear apart of a certain class with his knowledge. Simir is a professionally trained chef and is very proud of his work. His idea of what class he is in by his knowledge is shown in multiple scenes. Such as when he gets into an argument with Akbar when he is teaching him to cook. \u201cHe is in the kitchen with Akbar, the man he is learning to cook Indian food from, an argument happens and he says \u201ci am a chef, i don\u2019t need to learn how to cook from a cab driver\u201d(58:00). Showing that Simir thinks he is better than Akbar, although Akbar knows far more about traditional Indian cooking than he does. Since Akbar doesn’t have traditional training, Simir initially believes hes of a higher class.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Kaplan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the more time he spends with Akbar, the higher of a class he sees him. Akbar shows him how to pick and choose spices at the market, and how to feel the right amount of spices, rather than measure them out. It\u2019s Akbar\u2019s knowledge of Indian cuisine that leads Simir to respecting him, and allowing him to do things keeping live chickens outside the restaurant, which he was very against from the start. Culinary capital also appeared during one of Simir\u2019s dates. The two of them are both chefs, and have a very nice culinary background, on this date the woman chooses to take him to a food stand. Simir mentions that he was looking for something with more \u201camenities\u201d as he feels it was below him to eat at it. It represents the idea of culinary capital as because he thinks he is in the class that made him above eating at food stands, because of the amount he knows about food.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(Kaplan)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Social status and how food can make someone rise in status shows at the end of the film. The end of the film is when the restaurant gets a 3 star review and is named \u201cbest Indian food in the city\u201d. Up until them, Simir was in a role of a typical low status individual. Simir was working as the hostess\/waiter for his father’s restaurant, and no one knew who he was.\u00a0<\/span>When Simir makes a great meal during his time at as the chef there, the people of the restaurant ask to see him(the chef). When he walks out he is greeted to applause for making such a great meal. Showing that he is more appreciated by the city, and the people in it. And he is finally recognized as a Chef, as like he wanted from the beginning. He used his knowledge of food to climb to a higher social status.<\/span><\/p>\n

Overall <\/span>Today\u2019s Special<\/span><\/i> was an informative film on Ethnic Identity, culinary capital and social status. Each of these things appeared in multiple scenes, from two men crying eating the food at the restaurant, to Simir being a food snob when being taken to a food stand. The main theme of ethnic identity was the majority of the movie, as Simir was trying to find himself and make a connection with his father throughout the movie. So he adopts more Indian ideals such as daily prayers, the way he decorated the restaurant, and his newfound joy of being the chef at his father’s Indian restaurant.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Kaplan D, 2009. Today’s Special. United States<\/li>\n
  2. Today’s Special (2009). (2019). Retrieved from https:\/\/www.filmaffinity.com\/en\/film941104.html<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The story line of the movie Today\u2019s Special, is about Simir, a Indian man and chef learning how to cook Indian food. Simir starts off the movie by knowing nothing of cooking Indian food and it appears as though he knows little of the culture. Simir and Akbar are the two main characters. Akbar being… <\/p>\n

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